Cooking Mama Critic Reviews

Overall, Cooking Mama is an oddly entertaining game.

It’s a fantastic appetizer or after-dinner mint, however - if you need a game for those five-minute playing sessions in the bathroom or if you’re looking to get a gift for someone who has less time in their life to play, Cooking Mama could just be the Chef’s Special.

Its smart design takes full advantage of the DS' strengths and is put together in a delicious, ready-to-eat package that's sure to delight.

A lot of fun, with many different kinds of activities, with an immediate sense of accomplishment. It also has copious amount of practise modes.

The dishes and ingredients are all very detailed and look just like they should and Mama comes across as the tough extremist she is. She exudes her “Cook or die” mentality in every scene she graces.

At its best, Cooking Mama is one of the best touch-screen games around, but some unnecessarily fiddly moments mean that it doesn't quite hit the heights of "Trauma Center" or "WarioWare."

The thing about "Let’s Cook" that seemed bizarre to me is there was no real story to it: you don’t know why you’re cooking, your relation to Mama, who you’re cooking for, etc.

This is a game best played in small bursts. It's perfect for waiting in line or during road trips.

Cooking Mama does what it sets out to do very well, even if its concept will never be a true gaming classic. It's a really good niche-filler that utilizes the DS well.

So while there isn't all that much on the menu, the fast-paced and simple gameplay can't fail to raise a smile, at least for the first few plays. Most will set it aside after that, but it's priced at a decidedly value-conscious $20 -- less than the cost of a good steak.

With seventy six recipes, there is a lot of play value here, but once you're done, you're done.

Just keep in mind that while there are a lot of different things to do, this experience is definitely best enjoyed in short bursts.

As is, it's a tasty morsel that will appeal especially to conoisseurs of DS oddities like "Phoenix Wright" and "Trauma Center". Bon appetit!

It's not cool getting all the way to the end of a dish and losing because of some tech failure. But for the most part, things work quite well, and Cooking Mama is a steal at $19.99.

The main factor here is the playability, and bar the aforementioned niggles we came across we can't deny that 'Cooking Mama' uses the Nintendo DS touch screen in every conceivable and more importantly, fun, way.

Cooking Mama is a cute, charming little cooking-themed minigame collection, but it lacks direction and depth.

Cooking Mama saves the data progressively, so it’s incredibly easy to boot up, cook up a couple dishes, and shut down.

Whether you are a master in the kitchen or if you burn toast, Cooking Mama lets you enjoy simulating cooking without all the mess.

While the game does something new and is perfect for a quick game session on the way to work or on a break, it lacks the potential to be anything more.

Cooking Mama was fun for a while, but after the novelty wore off, the repetition of the mini-games and the janky stylus controls just became a bigger and more noticeable defect, and while I’d love to praise the game for trying something different, I have to fault it for not having much depth.